The Public House — Restaurant in Norfolk

I need to update this review: Let me start off by saying that our waitress was very nice. The following events were not her doing and we all tipped her well (I believe, at least I did). We also understand that it was a Saturday night and a limited menu because of COVID. That being said, this is what happened last night; I called ahead and asked what time the kitchen was closing to which they said 12(midnight). We head over (5 of us) to grab some good food because I recommend this place to them because most of them had never been. When we walked in, there was a couple at the bar, a 6 top on the section as us, a 4 top behind us, a 2 top in front and then another 2 tables so all in all about 20 people MAX and most of them were already eating when we got there and a lot of them left after we ordered our food. We each got waters really quickly and everyone else got drinks- I kept ordering things they were out of which I totally understand and that is not a reason why I’m taking off stars. I finally get a drink they do have and then we order our food. I get the fish tacos with pico on the side, one gets the 3 chicken tacos, one gets the fancy grilled cheese, one gets a sub of some kind with a side of Mac, and the other gets a burger. It was about 10:30/10:45 if I’m not mistaken, when we did order our food. We waited over an hour to get our food. THEN someone told us that there was only one chef working because the other either called out or didn’t show up. I wish someone would have told us that from the start because we were not prepared to be at that restaurant past midnight waiting for our food. Myself and one other decided to get our food to go because we were exhausted from packing for a friends move all afternoon and I still had an hour drive home. When we got our food- I was really unhappy. My fish tacos were so sad. The cabbage I believe was supposed to be cooked, if I’m not mistaken but no one gave it the decency of even tossing it on the grill so it was just raw cabbage on my fish tacos. The shell was also uncooked entirely so I just had raw tortilla with a fried fish. My aioli was NOT aioli, it was just sriracha in a cup?? And I did not get pico. The chicken tacos did not come with lettuce like the menu said and she also ordered a side of fries and sour cream. Did not get the sour cream and they gave her the SMALLEST side of fries to go when everyone else who got fries as a side got a full side of fries. The grilled cheese was stone cold like it had been made first thing and then sat under the hot lamp for a few minutes but then someone moved it. Then the rest of the table needed silverware because no one brought that to us. And they wanted ketchup and the waitress said they had to open a new can of ketchup and that’s why it was taking so long. Again, not her fault but why does it take 20 minutes to open a can and dish out 4 little cups of ketchup? All in all I’m very disappointed in our visit, especially because I recommend this place all the time. I understand we are in a pandemic but I have had far better luck pretty much anywhere else in similar situations. I will not be returning for a while. I hope they can get their stuff together so my husband and and I can return and have a better experience. No manager even came out to apologize or offer any sort of refund/ free drink or anything. I don’t expect anything free but we were there for so long.

Really good food, beer selection is okay. Cocktails are great! Wish there was a little more consistency in how the drinks were prepped. I ordered the same thing twice and while I understand that everyone makes their drinks a little differently (former bartender) the two drinks I got were entirely different. I watched them make the drinks and they were made with the same ingredients but still different. I'm giving it 4 stars because one time we walked in, no one seated us so we sat ourselves at a table and we received no service for about 20 min and left. We did come back after that and...

I am done giving this place chances to be good. Me and my girlfriend have been to this place a total of 4 times and every time we go it's a dreadful experience. Today we went and had lunch around 2:45pm. We had been there 3 times and this was their last shot to prove to us we should dine there again. We figured it was later in the day so it shouldn't be busy. We could figure out if it's slow, could they do well? We walk in and the place is dead except for some people at the bar and one table. The bartender(the only reason I'm giving them two stars), came over and kindly greeted us and told us to sit wherever we like. We picked a table which we suddenly realized as we sat down was a dirty table they had not cleaned off yet. We felt bad and apologized but the bartender was nice and told us it was no trouble. Our sever, Eve, came and dropped off some waters and asked, "Can I get you anything else to drink?" She said it in an irritated tone and fairly quickly. No hey, hello, how are you, nothing. Again at this point we are the only table in the whole restaurant so it shouldn't have been that much trouble. We said not at the moment so we could look at the drink menu. We ordered the Pretzel app and my girlfriend got a cocktail and I stayed with water. Drink was great no problem. The drink sat at the well for a bit since Eve was never really around. After some time she came back to take our meal orders. I got the steak and cheese and my girlfriend got The Sandwich. She then left and put our orders in. Then our Pretzel came out. It comes with two pretzels with some cheese and mustard. They didn't look right to begin with and with further inspection we found that both pretzels were cold. Not just lukewarm but just came of the fridge cold. We politely asked to send it back and she took it back no problem. She came back out with our meals right after and told us the pretzels would be discounted for our trouble. After she dropped our food off we didn't see her for about 20 mins except when she brought back our pretzels before we took a bite of our meals. If she did come back we could've told her that my girls sandwich wasn't very good and that the beer cheese tasted like they used expired milk. I didn't like mine either but I was expecting shaved sirloin and not the clumpy steak bites they used instead. Not their fault just me expecting something else. Still not that tasty though. I ate mine anyway and my girl just ate the side of Mac and cheese and the pretzel. The Mac and cheese and fries we had were good. Pretzels were good after being cooked properly. Eve never came to ask how our food was or to talk to us or anything. Once she finally did come back, she didn't ask how everything was but plainly asked if we needed anything else. I was gonna order a drink myself but felt rushed to leave even though we were still the only table in the place. They took $3 off the tab for the pretzel being cold. It should've been more but we weren't worried about that. The total bill was $48 and we tipped $5 mainly because we are both servers and understand they need tips. It's less than 12% but that's what we could give for the service we received. If we weren't servers we probably would've tipped $1 or not at all. We only knew her name because we saw it on the receipt, not because she introduced herself or even told us. We will never be coming back to this place to eat again. 4 separate times we've been here and each time the service is sub par at best and same for the food. We live close by so it's unfortunate to lose a close restaurant simply for plain food and...

I would not even give it one star. Too long to get a draft beer, 20 mins, and then the waitress came to the table to take our food order and one of my senior adult parents asked about their draft beer that wasn’t at the table. Waitress responds was: were on to ordering food. WHAT! 40 mins to get dinner that was not hot, brought out in different times! The dish White mac n cheese not prepared like the menu. No panko. Cold Mac n cheese Not even what the menu states. The waitress told our table they ran out of panko for another item someone ordered and when the waitress was asked were was the topping for the Mac n cheese, she states it’s made this way, which is not what the menu states. She already changed another menu item because they ran out of the ingredient which this item was suppose to have. So then she says well I can bring some out, but yet you just said it’s not made this way. I explained to her it was not good. Her only response was ok. Because your charging 12.00 for Mac and cheese, thought maybe I could take home and fix it up, so I asked for a box, along with my senior adult parents. She brought theirs boxes and not the one I requested, and then handed us the bill. Thinking it was strange not to bring a box so I asked had she removed the Mac n cheese? Which she did remove the charge, but we had to ask if she had removed it. Then her answer was yes that’s what took me so long I had to ask my manager to okay it. Then we signed the bill, then the box came...never mind. Wrote on the receipt for manager to call...no call. Strongly Suggest: Maybe next time try getting the drinks out before having to wait 20 min for draft beer and not telling the senior adult, who is asking for their beer “we’re on to food” Maybe take off the menu item, then trying to convince the customer that read the menu, you don’t make it that way. Because you haven’t read it or making an excuse.... so the customer is wrong because they read the words. Maybe knowing the customer is unhappy, how about offering something else. Maybe telling the customer you took it off, the customer should never have to ask. Don,t be mad with the customer and not communicate about a box or the bill. You could have helped defused the already bad experience. 40 mins for dinner is ridiculous when your restaurant is empty. Maybe this is why you are empty!

I would have rather shared this to the person who is being paid to manage, but you aren’t doing your job. It starts at the top, maybe you should take ownership and try building a better repour so you can keep the people that are coming to order dinner (which in today’s time is pretty expensive), and maybe they will return. You have a lot of competition around your community. I’m sure other businesses would be happy to have 8 people on a Sunday early evening for dinner in their restaurant . If you want to be just a bar, remove the menu. Simple.

Very disappointed! But I don’t think you will really care that I wrote a bad review but maybe someone looking to drop money for dinner will..save your money it’s too valuable to throw away at the public house, they don’t care...